FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Friday, September 5, 1997

Peace Corps Director Mark Gearan to Appear with Education Secretary at Town Meeting on Education

Washington, D.C.—Peace Corps Director Mark Gearan and Education Secretary Richard Riley will be on a panel September 8 at a town meeting on education at T.C. Williams High School in Alexandria, Va.
The event, co-hosted by CNN and the U.S. Department of Education, is part of the Education Department\'s America Goes Back to School initiative. The one-hour session will focus on "Teachers\' Legacy and Literacy."
Gearan will discuss the work of Peace Corps volunteers, who have taught more than 5 million students around the world since 1961. Today, more than 2,500 volunteers in 73 countries work directly with students, teachers, schools and communities in education. In addition, after they return home, Peace Corps volunteers continue to work in education. According to a recent Peace Corps survey, nearly 30 percent of former volunteers work in education.
In addition, the Peace Corps has an ongoing global education program, World Wise Schools, which seeks to broaden the geographic and cultural horizons of U.S. students through the overseas experience of currently-serving and returned Peace Corps volunteers. Today, there are 3,500 teachers in the United States who participate in the program, including one at T.C. Williams, and the Peace Corps hopes to triple that to 10,000 teachers by the year 2000.
WHAT:CNN, Education Dept. co-hosting Town Meeting on Education
WHO:Peace Corps Director Mark Gearan Education Secretary Richard Riley Other education experts Audience of high school students
WHEN:1 to 2 p.m., Monday, September 8
WHERE:T.C. Williams High School 3330 King Street, Alexandria, Va.

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